A Forgotten Community in New Orleans: Life on a Superfund Site

onJun 22, 2014 @ 11:00 PDT

Shannon Rainey lives in a house that was built on top of a Superfund site in the Upper Ninth Ward of New Orleans.

“I bought my house when I was 25, and thirty years later, I still can’t get out,” she told DeSmogBlog.

Rainey’s home in Gordon Plaza is part of a subdivision developed by the city in 1981 on top of the Agriculture Street landfill. No one disclosed to the buyers that their new homes were built on top of a dump that was closed in 1965.

Rainey has a view of two other city-owned properties also built on the landfill: the shuttered Morton Elementary School and Press Park, an abandoned housing project developed by the Housing Authority of New Orleans (HANO).

“If it were white folks back here, this would be all gone,” Rainey says bluntly.

By Julie Dermansky

Julie Dermansky is a multimedia reporter and artist based in New Orleans. She is an affiliate scholar at Rutgers University’s Center for the Study of Genocide and Human Rights. Visit her website at www.jsdart.com.

uk/Who Funds Nigel Farage? Mapping His Millions

BySam Bright

onApr 18, 2026 @ 09:58 PDT

Live tracker of the Reform leader’s personal income.

Series: Defending Democracy from Dirty Money

Series: Defending-UK-Democracy

uk/Nigel Farage Has Personally Accepted £675,000 from Foreign Sources

BySam Bright

onApr 18, 2026 @ 09:40 PDT

A-third of the Reform leader’s income has come from overseas interests since he became an MP.

Series: Defending Democracy from Dirty Money

Series: Defending-UK-Democracy

‘Get Rid of MAHA’: Trump Alliance Cracks as Climate Denialists Turn on RFK Jr.’s Movement

ByRachel Santarsiero

onApr 17, 2026 @ 06:54 PDT

At the Heartland Institute’s annual climate conference, fossil fuel allies warn MAHA’s push on regulating chemicals and plastics could threaten the oil industry — exposing a growing rift inside Trump’s base.